Retiring is not an easy thing to do. This is partly due to the pride that many feel in their work, but mostly due to finances; it never feels like one is prepared enough to fully retire, even with a full pension plan and investment portfolio.
But, speaking of investments, there is the matter of your home. For most, the home is the most valuable asset in their portfolio, and can be an extremely useful way to leverage additional financial cushioning for retirement. In your case, what financial options might be available via your property for a more comfortable retirement?
Downsizing
One of the simplest ways in which you can engage with your property as an asset in retirement is in selling it. Selling up your home will allow you to immediately realise any and all gains made on the property through renovation and passive growth in market value, giving a solid lump sum for you to do with as you please.
Realising this sum in as effective a way as possible might involve moving to a cheaper region of the UK. More likely, and more reasonably, an option would be to downsize. You may no longer need the spare bedrooms once belonging to your children, and as such could benefit from moving to a smaller and more sustainable home – allowing you to pocket more of the profit from selling your initial home.
Releasing Equity
If moving does not at all appeal to you – whether you have an attachment to your home, or family and mobility issues render moving a difficulty not worth conscioning –, then there are alternative means by which your property can deliver its value to you. One of the more popular of these means is equity release, often referred to as a ‘lifetime mortgage’.
Equity release is when you receive part of your home’s value as either a lump sum or an annuity, a value which is only repaid on the sale of the house; the house remains yours all the while. An equity release calculator can show you what might be possible based on the value of your own property, and show you a financial option free of undue administration and hassle.
Renovating
Equity release can also be a useful way to fund quality-of-life improvements to your home – a crucial potentiality if you have a personal attachment to your home, and little intention of moving or downsizing. Renovations can take a number of different forms.
You might finance large renovations that give you more living space, or your lean into a complete aesthetic re-design down to your kitchen and bathroom units. Alternatively, your renovations might reflect your changing needs later in life, allowing you to live independently well into later life. Whatever changes you do make, there will be finance-based results, and largely positive ones at that. Extending or converting space to increase your square footage will naturally add to the market value of your home.
